Brands Hatch R3 & R4

Qual P2
Race 1 – Finished P6
Race 2 – Finished P4

Weather conditions. Dry during all sessions. However grey clouds and changeable every other time!

Qualifying – A great season and I set the pace early on. I had pole position as I crossed the line to take the chequered flag. Unfortunately Justin Cox crossed the line moments later pinching the position moving myself down to P2. Beating me by 0.013 seconds! Both myself and Justin set times faster than the club record. However lap records are only recorded on fastest lap times during racing and not qualifying. So I was very eager to have a dry race to challenge the clubs record books. With grey clouds and a bad forecast it was not looking good but I remained optimistic to repeat the pace.

Race 1 – Race video will be posted shortly.

Starting from the front of the grid for the second year running was great. However I had a comparable start with Justin Cox who was on pole but we both got swamped from 3^rd place and 4^th place drivers, Stuart Higgins and Dave Pearson. Who both got lighting starts.So i dropped down to 4^th place after Paddock Hill bend. I lost another position to James Russell at Druids and finished the first lap down in 5^th. Entering Druids for the second time Amanda lost another two places to Graeme Smith and Stu Thompson. Oh dear Amanda – your going backwards. Get your act together!!

We were all so close going into Druids at the start of the race. I had Deja vu from last years race when I had a DNF with significant damage to the car. I can’t afford for that to happen again this year and unfortunately I was too cautious going into the corner and lost a few places.

I dropped to 9^th place by lap 4. But once the field had spread out a bit I gained in confidence and soon became the fastest driver on the circuit. This enabled me to make a fighting come back and I quickly caught up with drivers in front. Picking them off until I got to 6^th position. On lap 12 I was the quickest driver, posting a new club lap record. By lap 14 Amanda had worked her way into 5^th place. She unfortunately lost this position to Graeme Smith who then posted a new fastest lap and club record. The lead pack became a train of 6 drivers, which lead to a very exciting finish, with all 6 cars finishing within 1 second of each other.

I’m disappointed with 6^th place to be honest, but only a second covered all 6 drivers, it was a very close race and a great one for the spectators! One nice thought is I was so close to getting a new club record, only 1 person has driven Brands Hatch Indy in a Classic quicker than me in race conditions.

Sunday – Race 2 – Forecast for rain! Race two looked like it was going to be a wet one. As the grid was getting called to the assembly area it rained heavily. Then suddenly the sun came out, the wind picked up and the circuit dried up to make it a dry race. It was another action packed race in front of a very strong crowd at Brands Hatch. With loads of spectators coming to watch the truck racing. I started from P6 on the grid and dropped a place on lap 1. On lap 2 she had to take avoiding action to miss an accident which meant taking to the grass. This allowed the leading pack time to get away. It was going to have to be another come back drive. I slipped to 6^th position and over 3 laps reeled in a 2 second gap to 5^th position driver Andrew Outterside. After overtaking Andrew, I noticed Andrew going into a spin in her rear view mirror and then darting off the circuit towards the tyre barrier. Luckily he was ok but his car had too much damage to continue. I hunted down 3^rd and 4^th place drivers James Russell and Stuart Higgins. Managed to overtake for 4^th place and just caught up to 3^rd place but unfortunately ran out of laps to make a move.

A very positive weekend. The car was great and I showed a lot of pace in the car. I’m currently 3^rd in the McMillian Caterham Graduates Classic Championship. Which of course is very pleasing although still very easy days. The next race weekend is at Rockingham in May. Thank you very much for all the support from Skegness Grammar School and Signs of the Times.